Vitamin Information Center

AIDS
Synonyms
Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus;
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; HIV-infection;
HIV/AIDS
Definition
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a retrovirus
that primarily infects vital components of the human
immune system such as CD4+ T cells (a subset of T
cells), macrophages and dendritic cells. It impairs the
body’s ability to fight infection and certain cancers.
HIV infection is diagnosable by antibody or antigen
testing. Treatment aims to suppress HIV replication
by combinations of drugs that inhibit HIV enzymes.
Any of a list of illnesses that, when occurring in an
HIV-infected person, leads to a diagnosis of AIDS, the
most serious stage of HIV infection. AIDS is also diagnosed
if an HIV-infected person has a CD4 count below
200 cells/mm3, whether or not that person has an AIDSdefining
condition. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) published a list of AIDS-defining
conditions in 1993. The 26 conditions include candidiasis,
cytomegalovirus disease, Kaposi’s sarcoma,
mycobacterium avium complex, pneumocystis carinii
pneumonia, recurrent pneumonia, progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy, pulmonary tuberculosis, invasive
cervical cancer, and wasting syndrome.
Cross-References
 HIV (Human Immunodeficiency-Virus)-Infection
 HIV-Infection and AIDS

Matthias Rath, the doctor who discouraged use of AIDS treatments in favour of his own nutritional pills, has dropped a libel case against The Guardian newspaper.

Dr Rath began legal action against the broadsheet a year ago, complaining that three of its articles condemning his behaviour amongst South Africans with HIV/AIDS were libelous.

Dr Rath claimed that his vitamin pill, Vitacell, could cure AIDS, prevent strokes, and eradicate heart disease and cancer.

He also claimed that conventional medicines were toxic, and distributed his own pills free in South Africa; an action which campaigners and medical experts claim led to unnecessary deaths.

The Guardian was awarded costs of £220,000 by the court. The paper’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, said:

“We are very glad that Rath has dropped his libel action, doubtless designed to discourage other journalists - in Britain and abroad - from looking too closely at his dubious claims and methods.

“We will seek to recover the costs of defending our journalism.”
Several HIV/AIDS experts have publicly condemned Dr Rath’s actions.

The Guardian was advised on the case by Professor Brian Gazzard, an HIV/Aids expert.

He said that convincing people that they could defend against HIV/AIDS by taking vitamin pills was “extremely harmful”.

He also said: “The widespread provision of anti-retrovirals in sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most important public health measures of this century.”

Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill Aids centre in Montreal, said: “It is clear that [Dr Rath] has done enormous harm to people with HIV.”

John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunobiology at Cornell University in the United States, said: “The promotion of micronutrients and vitamin pills as effective remedies for HIV harms infected people.

“If they stop taking the anti-retroviral drugs that we are know are effective, their health suffers.”

Dr Rath is head of the Dr Rath Health Foundation. The organisation pledges to fight for “Health, Peace and Social Justice.”

One of the main goals of the Foundation is to achieve a “new global healthcare system”, changing the world of medicine from what it claims to be “medicine that serves the interest of the pharmaceutical industry” to one that “serves the people.”

Congress parliament member Sachin Pilot wants a legislation to make it mandatory for all dairy firms in the country to fortify milk with Vitamin A as India is home to 40 percent of the world’s malnourished children.

Pilot submitted a private member’s bill to the Lok Sabha and sought amendment to the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to include fortification of milk with Vitamin A. He Thursday said the government would support the move.

Pilot was speaking at an event organised by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), a Swiss foundation governed by the UN and funded by the Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation and the US government.

Almost 46 percent of Indian children under the age of three suffer from malnutrition, according to the survey by the health ministry in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (Unicef).

This figure is worse than that of the sub-Saharan countries. If 35 percent of the children in sub-Saharan region suffer from malnutrition, in china the figure is only eight percent.

Seeking support for the bill, the MP from Dausa in Rajasthan said he with other young MPs sought support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani.

‘We have got good and positive response from them. Malnourishment among children cannot go on. Our effort is to raise consciousness. It is a severe problem. Fortification of milk is just a small step in this direction,’ he said.

‘I will present the bill in the current budget session. We want to create awareness in the country, which would match the HIV/AIDS and polio campaigns,’ he added.

When milk is processed and the fat content is reduced, Vitamin A and D are removed with fat. ‘Therefore, toned and double toned milk are low in fat and also low in vitamin A,’ he said.

Pilot, a member of the Citizen’s Alliance consisting of young MPs from all parties and celebrities, said Congress MP Mabel Rebello would move a similar bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The legislation would not cost much to dairy firms, as they only have to add soluble to toned milk to fortify it with Vitamin A,’ he explained.

To discuss the matter a meeting was organised Wednesday, which was attended by most of the Alliance members.

‘This move will have far reaching consequences. All members agreed that it is a positive step. It is a big first step and its early implementation will help the country,’ said Pilot.

Though, the milk would be fortified, it would not mean fat contents would be high, said R. Sankar, senior manger and regional representative South Asia, GAIN.

Ninety percent of the children get less than fifty percent of Vitamin A through food, while 80 percent of women get 50 percent of the vitamin, he added.

Matthias Rath and his foundation had never claimed their vitamin products were a cure for HIV/Aids, Rath’s advocate told the Cape High Court today.

The court is hearing a bid by the Treatment Action Campaign for an order forcing the government to act against what it says are Rath’s illegal distribution of vitamin products in black townships and his claim that they can reverse the course of Aids.

“We are not claiming it’s a cure,” Rath’s advocate, Dumisa Ntsebeza, told the court. “We would like to make very clear, that has never been the claim.”

Rath’s position, he said, was that in the absence of an effective cure or a vaccine, and in the face of the extreme toxicity of antiretrovirals, multivitamins were an effective and affordable way to “halt the progression and even reverse the symptoms” of Aids.

Ntsebeza said it was much the same thing to say that vitamins and micronutrients delayed Aids, as TAC had conceded, or that they reversed it, and one should not quibble about the difference.

However there was scientific evidence, published in reputable peer-reviewed international journals, that they could in fact reverse the course of the disease.

It was not the court’s job to question this research.

At one point Ntsebeza referred to administering multivitamins to “our patients”.

However elsewhere in his argument he said that Rath’s only involvement in the affair was the donation of vitamins to the SA National Civics Organisation.

Sanco in turn ran a community nutrition programme using those donations.

It would be a sad day were the court to interdict this programme, he told judge Dumisani Zondi.